lbo99

On 10/14/2019 at 9:56 PM, M3AN said:

BMW aren't necessarily the right people actually, they have very little experience with these type of procedures.

Shop around for a reputable engine builder for the bottom end, VANOS you may need to ship, I don't know the ChCh market, perhaps @Aaron has a better idea. $4.7k is stupid money, don't do that.

I suspect the best you'll get is a start-up warranty from any independent. There are a few in Auckland that will rebuild your VANOS for you.

Thanks for your comment Dave!

I totally agree with what you said. Had been thinking about HELLBM as they’re quite known of doing S54 stuff. I think I kinda know Aaron from our local bmw fb page (if we’re thinking of the same guy). He is the guy who have a red e36 track car and does most of the car stuff with his dad aye. I think he sells shifters for e36 and e46. 

14 hours ago, zero said:

If its the N42 motor then sorry to say but its a money pit.

Couldn’t agree more but since I’ve already got most stuff sorted. Might as well just finish all of them. Most of us (bmw guys) bought our car in the first place knowing that it’s not worth it but still did anyways because we simply just like our bmws. 

1 hour ago, zero said:

$1100 for a sump gasket is crazy money.

If your cvv is blocked you will keep blowing seals as it will just look for the next weakest seal/gasket.

But if your cvv is blocked they should have picked up on that first.

Forgot to say 1.1k includes a pair of new engine mounts as well, but it’s still pretty expensive imo. I don’t really feel like spending more money on my daily but I guess I’ll just fix all these so that that the car will be good to go for a few more years (hopefully). Really want to to upgrade to a 330ci and make it a very nice daily, just can’t really find a nice example atm and my 318ci kept giving me problems ??‍♂️

Been having massive oil leak from my daily for awhile. Brought my car to a local mechanic that build Honda and Bmw race cars last week and was told that the sump gasket was leaking. Spent 1.1k to fixed it along with a new oil and filter change (I provided the oil). Found out the car is still leaking the night i took it back from them. Thought it was just the gasket running in but it leaks like crazy the day after some spirited driving. Brought it back today, took them nearly two hours to check. Not minding that they wasted some of my petrol keeping the engine on for like 40 minutes.
 

End result they told me that the rear main seal is causing the leak, will be a $800 job. They told me it wasn’t leaking when they checked the car while replacing the sump gasket earlier. Am I just unlucky or what should I do about it....

Sorry fellows, this sounds like a rant tread?

On 10/10/2019 at 5:43 PM, M3AN said:

Buy exactly what Beisan says to buy, including any uprated BMW parts.

Have you checked if BMW will actually install it for you? I'd be very surprised if they said yes.

You really want somebody that has done it before to do it for you, that'll be much faster, less expensive and less risky. If you simply can't find somebody with experience then you need a trusted shop and they need to read and understand the entire procedure before they give you a quote. Most will simply say "no" when they see the procedure. Don't do a cash job, you need CGA cover if your engine goes boom.

If you're handy it's a good job to do yourself.

The alternative, which will take your car off the road for a while, is to remove the unit, send it to somebody (like Kayne Barrie) and have them rebuild it and send it back.

An off the shelf rebuilt unit will be expensive... not a route I'd go down.

Regardless of what the instructions say make sure you use a new valve gasket kit.

 

Thank you for your suggestion. I asked chch bmw at the start of the year and got quoted 4.7k just for labour to rebuild the vanos and change the rod bearings. This is providing that I provide all the parts by myself. Apparently I was told that there will be no warranty since I wanted to use the stuff from Beisan (the hubs, seals, chain guides etc) and rod bearings from VAC Motorsport, which is aftermarket not oem. That doesn’t sound very convincing for me but I really want to make sure that the right people do that job for me. It’s CHRISTCHURCH so there isn’t much option out there for me. Might just bring the car up north to get them done properly. Should start saving up and hopefully get it done by next year ?

On 6/4/2019 at 7:59 PM, paulo said:

Hi - I bought one for my e46 M3 from KAP Industries in Australia:

https://kap.industries/product/bmw-e46/ 

Took about 10 days to arrive - fitted perfectly, and is nice and sturdy.

Much better than the temporary one that I "fabricated" out of a $5 piece of aluminium bar from Mitre 10!

Cheers

Paul

Update

I ended up picking up the KAP Industries one instead of the VAC due to shipping problems. Glad that I picked up the KAP Industries one and is very happy with it.

Cheers Paul

Good day, I'm just wondering what people is doing out there regarding their vanos rebuild?

Will I be better off buying individual beisan parts and then let chch bmw to rebuild it for me or should I just buy a rebuilt vanos unit from bimmerworld or drvanos and install it.

Car is currently approaching the 200k mark, thinking it should be time to rebuild the vanos.

Feel free to post your comments, cheers :)

Thinking of replacing the engine and transmission mounts of my car as they are all quite worn. Has anyone here happened to replace theirs before? I'm actually thinking to replace mine with the UUC ones instead of the OEM as they provide a lifetime warranty. Feel free to let me know your opinions, cheers

UUC Engine Mounts + Transmission mount - http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/engine-mounts--transmission-mounts-package---oe-replacement-rubber-for-e36-e46-z3-z4-p1895.aspx

Wow!! That's a sick build ??
Looking forwards more updates !!

On 6/19/2019 at 7:16 PM, CSET said:

I'm running a VAC. I have an OEM e46 mount I'm happy to sell.

I'm actually thinking of running a VAC one as well. According to M3AN the E46 OEM mount doesn't have strap that's required for motorsport use? By any chance do you have any photos of the OEM mount? (on and off the passenger seats) Cheers

Hi for the trackday goers out there, I’m just wondering what kind of fire extinguisher mount you guys use in your E46. Diy, if so could you kindly tell me how? Oem or some other aftermarket alternatives. Cheers

Feels like I will need to drive my car all the way up to Auckland in the future if i want to do a proper csl convert on my car haha ? 

5 hours ago, m325i said:

If your're going to do RACP work, get the top beam kit too. 

It's now been shown that plates only shift the load and you will end up with more cracking in different locations. 

I just calculated the cost of buying the stage 1 and 2 kit, it's NZD 880 shipped (excluding tax). Just wondering around how much did it cost you for labour to do all that. Cheers!

21 hours ago, Gaz said:

Come on Lester! You know you should talk to me about this stuff. 

Could be the centre mount, worth having a look at and inspecting it for play. Also worth checking the rubber donut for signs of wear and tear

Sure thing! I'll pop in a few weeks to collect some of my parts, we can talk about it if you're free

21 hours ago, qube said:

 i hope hes not your mechanic any more.

stick with the correct castrol oil for the S54 engine.

Ye that's what I thought. According to my knowledge, the S54 should use the Castrol 10W-60 oil. I've also read on other forums that people in the states use liqui moly 10W-60 (buildjournal).

FYI the mechanic I went to was DCH motorsport in Christchurch, I only asked for a quote so nothing has been done to the car yet. 

Experience clunk on my 2003.5 E46 M3 when i shift hard or when i let off the throttle on low revs. I later found out that one of my transmission mount is out, hence thinking of replacing my transmission and engine mounts together. I'm currently thinking of the UUC black package as replacements of my worn out ones (link attached). After doing some research, i found out that the clunk might also be caused by a worn driveshaft center mount. Should i replace it with a oe part of should i go for an aftermarket replacement that's better (oe part link attached). I'm not gonna worry about the bushings at the rear of the car at the moment as I will be replacing them when i reinforce my subframe later next year. I'm still doing my research on what bushing i should use, fixed my mind on installing CMP Auto Engineering Stage 1 underside reinforcement plate. 

Last question, my mechanic suggest me to use ELF 5W-50 race oil or should I just stick with Castrol 10W-60. Mind that my car will be driven on road most of the time but will be on track occasionally. 

UUC Engine Mounts + Transmission mount - http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/engine-mounts--transmission-mounts-package---oe-replacement-rubber-for-e36-e46-z3-z4-p1895.aspx
Driveshaft Center Mount - https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/driveshaft-center-mount/26122282495/ 
CMP Stage 1 Reinforcement Plate - http://cmpautoengineering.com/product/cmp-ae-bmw-e46-3-series-subframe-mount-reinforcement-plates/

On 4/30/2019 at 4:21 PM, M3_Power said:

You can’t fit this with a csl intake. Well not both parts just the front induction bit you can.

Hi Tom, love your engine bay! Just wondering what work is required to have a working CSL carbon intake. I had a look at karbonius and thinking of getting one from them. Will the intake be a plug and play thing or is there other parts and software required? Cheers

1 hour ago, str8_6 said:

Tried a Z4? Little bit more modern with some newer safety features - DSC and multiple airbags. 3.0si is a lot of fun. 

Thanks for your suggestion but I prefer the looks of the Z3?

2 hours ago, NZ00Z3 said:

I have 2 Z3's.  A 2.0L daily drive and a 3.0L garage queen.

The 2.8 and 3.0 L cars have the best performance for your money and they are not too expensive being ~ $8k for a 3.0 and ~$6k for a 2.8.

If your are after a Z3M roadster, there are only 19 listed in the NZTA database, so they are a rare car and don't come onto the market very often.

I keep away from the 1.9L Z3's.  Low Performance and very old cooling systems being my reasons.

Good luck with your search.

Saw photos of your cars somewhere on Facebook before, very clean and interesting colours! I’m currently thinking of getting a facelift 3.0 or at least a 6 cylinder model to replace my daily....

57 minutes ago, M3AN said:

S5x...

S50 or S54??

Feel free to drop a pic of your car and describe it, thinking of getting a Z3 but just waiting for the right one....

23 hours ago, M3AN said:

Well, I can't tell you what to do but I don't believe it's worth $32k without the necessary fixes (see Tom's for $30k with the fixes). I'd also question how it went from $28k to $32k in 3 months and why somebody would want to flip an apparent unicorn (blue E46 M3 manual) in that timeframe?

A desperate buyer makes for a happy seller, keep that in mind!

I'd challenge his offer of $32k armed with the knowledge that you'll need to spend literally thousands more, if they won't budge then I'd walk away.

The only E46's that are truly going up in value are the ones that have been fixed and the owners of ones that haven't been fixed know this all too well and are trying to cash in on a rising market. Look at the one recently purchased by a member here... looked great and now needs multiple thousands put into it to fix the subframe less than a month after purchase...

 

 

Hi I asked dch automotive today and they told me installing subframe reinforcement plates and changing the rear subframe bushing to powerflex will cost me around 1.5k.

They also told me that installing a vanos repair kit will cost me around 6-800 dollars. So it'll cost me around 2.5k for the necessary fixes (assuming bmw still covers the rod bearing issue). I'll ask christchurch bmw tomorrow and check whether the car has gone through the rod bearing and airbag recall. Any good places that I can send the car in for a pre purchase inspection? The current owner service the car at page european which I know is a good mechanic but i'm also thinking about sending it to winger bmw.

I’m actually very curious if the car has been in a crash before as the front turn signal lamps doesn’t match.?

I talked to this guy and the lowest he’ll go is 32k. I was actually going to buy this same car back in September this year but it got sold before I gathered my funds. I think it was sold around 28k at that time. I’m still thinking if I should accept his offer. I’m afraid to miss the chance to own this car twice as the same time.....

I have a friend that owns a dealership and we worked out the cost of importing an e46 m3 from Japan into NZ and the cost is actually quite expensive and the process is not easy as well. 

I'm actually thinking of buying this particular car that is currently for sale on trade me. Any thoughts or personal opinion towards this car? 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1859840160.htm